Ken Long, vice president of the Milford Town Council, was present at the meeting regarding the proposed concrete plant.

By Maggie Kenworthy
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Approval was granted for a future concrete plant in Milford during the Kosciusko Board of Zoning Appeals meeting held Tuesday, June 9.

John and Julie Ward requested both an exception and a variance for the property located at 13730 North SR 15, Milford. This land was recently rezoned to an Industrial-3 District by the Kosciusko Area Plan Commission.

The exception would allow for the modification of a pre-existing, non-conforming structure by realigning a gravel drive within 57′ of the west sideline. The variance would allow two uses on a single tract of land (concrete ready-mix plant and concrete supply sales), allow the existing structure to remain 65′ from the west property line and allow construction of a drive 15′ from the east property line.

Area Plan Director Dan Richard explained that the property is located in the Northern Industrial Corridor. Because of this location, the site plans were previously presented to the technical review committee. Thirteen various restrictions were placed on the property as agreed upon during this previous discussion. These restrictions included concerns regarding outside storage.

Ken Long, vice president of the Milford Town Council, explained that the town had not seen the current site plan and that there were safety concerns regarding the previous site plans. After seeing the updated plans, he said that he, representing the board, was “ambivalent” to the request.

Attorney Steve Snyder, representing the Wards, stated that during the busy season, the anticipated daily traffic in and out of the facility would include around 40 trucks. He stated that this was much less than the traffic produced by Chore-Time Brock. In addition, due to the location of the property, vehicles on SR 15 would have a clear view of the property’s driveway.

The board voted unanimously to approve the requests, with the 13 conditions that were previously agreed upon by the technical committee.

The board also heard two requests made by Dennis Polk, EMS C19 Lane, Warsaw. These requests were previously denied by the Hearing Officer and Snyder was appealing the decisions.

An exception was requested to allow an RV to be used on the property for holidays and areas in a residential district. A variance was requested to permit an RV to be placed 15′ from the right-of-way.

Local ordinances allow an RV to be parked in a residential district, but they are not to be used for camping purposes.

Snyder explained that the RV would be used by Polk only occasionally. Currently, the property is vacant and undersized, making it a poor location to build a residence.

“I think you’ll see the lot looking a lot like it does now, with the exception of occasionally a motorcoach parked there,” said Snyder.

The board approved the request, on a one-year basis with the condition that the RV only be used on weekends and holidays by the Polk family.

In other news, the board approved:

• An exception request made by Robert Hamilton, 865 South CR 325E, Warsaw, to allow a residence addition in a commercial district.
• A variance request made by Sherry Dykena, 7621 W. Forest Ave., Warsaw, to allow a garage addition 10.4′ from the road right-of-way.
• An exception request made by James and Lindsay Jackson, 306 E. Main St., Silver Lake, to allow an addition to an existing oversized accessory building.
• A variance request made by William and Heather Rodgers, 4927 West CR 600N, Leesburg, to allow two residences on one tract of land by adding living quarters to an existing accessory structure. A condition was put on the approval that only family members can reside on the property and that the residence can not be rented out separately.
• A variance request made by Patrick McGlothlin, 26 EMS B40E Lane, Warsaw, for the construction of a new residence 6.9′ from the right-of-way, 13.1′ from the southwest water’s edge and 12.3′ from the east water’s edge.